Last Days Aussie Land

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I decided to stay a couple of days at the Christian Community House in Bundeena. I don't know if I had mentioned them but this is basically a group of Christians who have a big house in which they hold service but also have rooms for singles and groups to stay in. The mission of this church is to provide hospitality to other Christians, churches, youth groups but also to people with a troubled history, i.e. people with drug and alcohol problems. I was all alone while I was there though. Anyways, I do think it's a pretty neat concept to a offer a place to rest and recover. It is right next to the beach and when you eat breakfast in the morning sitting on the front porch it really is like heaven. Among the church members are Malcolm, an ex helicopter engineer with the British army and retired church social worker with the homeless of Sydney and his wife Judy. I did have many good talks with those two, especially Malcolm who would regularly come to the house to fix and organize things. He has worked more than 25 years among the homeless and it was a real inspiration to hear him talking about working in the name of the lord. We also had many fruitful discussions about my current search for purpose in life.

If you are in Sydney and you like grand coastal views and hiking than the coastal walk is for you. It starts in Bundeena, this little village of 2000 inhabitants at the south of Sydney and located in the Royal National Park and winds along the coast down south all the way to Otford. From there you can take the train back to Sydney. All in all it's about 27 Km. Doable in one day but I decided to take things easy and sleep over about 2/3 of the way at Garie Beach where the youth hostel association was running a small unmanned hostel nestled in the hills next to Garie. I had no problems to reach Garie Beach but really had trouble finding the hostel as it was hidden in the woods and there were no signs. I only had gotten kryptic directions. On top of that it was getting dark. I finally found the hut. The place was very, very basic. It was run off grid with solar panels for powering the batteries for lighting and rain water catchment for, well, water. Anyways it was cool to be close to the beach as the waves would sing you to sleep.

I got going the next morning and followed the track along the coast. At one point the track went more inland when I decided to walk along the coast. I have to mention that you would not walk on beaches but rather large and small boulders. So on one side you would have the ocean with waves battering on the coast (and the boulders). On the other side you would have steep cliffs so there was no way to go inland but to walk back where I had left the beaten path. As I marched on (or better say climbed on) the track got increasingly smaller and smaller. The waves seemed to get bigger and bigger. And the cliffs higher and higher. At several times I thought about returning but then I decided against it. I didn't wanna be a sissy and also being the high efficiency man I had no motivation to waste so much time and walk all the way back. Increasing doubts and fears would alternate with hope and self motivation that the next beach and with it a way back to the main track would come up shortly.

Well, after 3 or 4 hours and approx. 4 Km I found that beach. And boy was I happy. If I had slipped and fell I would have been in big trouble as my mobile phone had no coverage along the way and the chance that some other crazed traveler would take that route was increasingly nil. But what can I say, I made it and proud I was. Another adventure for the boy in every man.

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Photos

Little Surfer Girl
Girl on snake board with surfboard under her arm. Incredible, only in Australia you can see this.

Bundeena
The Christian House is the big white building on the left.

Ferry Ride
Somewhere along the ferry route from Bundeena to Cronulla.

Lookback Marley
Marley on the right and little Marley Beach on the left

Creek
Flowing to the ocean

Garie Beach
It was getting dark when I descended onto Garie Beach

Lightning Struck
This tree was struck by lightning. This is not unusual by itself. What you cannot really see here is that the right branch continues to live although the rest of the tree is burnt.

Coast of Otford Station
The end of the Coastal Walk

Comments

[aussie mick]

bundeena in the early 80s
hi there....i have photos of me fishing in front of the christian house...i quite often gave a young woman from there any of the fish i caught! it was a tranquil backwater far removed from the cess pit in sydney that i had lived in before.compare bundeena to redfern! cherish your memories as i do mine mick